‘Deplorable’ for collecting
Closed BSC not offering refunds to locked out members
To some members of Boston Sports Clubs who have been charged their monthly fees despite the gyms being closed indefinitely, the biggest offense is deception.
Had BSC simply given them an option to cancel their membership or continue paying to help support employees who would no longer have hours to pick up at the gym, folks might have reacted differently.
But because BSC shut its doors, closed off avenues to discontinue memberships and allegedly fired the majority of its staff, people are angry.
And on Monday, a lawsuit was filed against BSC’s parent company, Town Sports International Holdings.
“These people basically stole money,” said Lenny Kesten, one of the attorneys at Brody, Hardoon, Perkins & Kesten, the company representing the plaintiffs. “We’ve been inundated with phone calls and emails from people who have been ripped off.”
The lawsuit alleges that BSC was “willfully and knowingly charging consumers monthly membership fees for services that Town Sports knew it would not be providing pursuant to the terms of its membership agreements. Town Sports’ conduct in this case is a deplorable display of unconscionable corporate avarice.”
Attempts to reach anyone at Town Sports International Holdings via email and telephone were not successful.
The lawsuit mentions other gyms that gave their members the option to cancel or get refunded during the shutdown.
“Pursuant to M.G.L. c. 93, Section 82, consumers have a statutory right to cancel gym memberships when a seller ‘substantially changes the operation of a health club or location,’” the lawsuit reads.
On BSC’s website are two letters the company emailed its members, neither of which give them a chance to cancel their memberships.
“Many of you have messaged us on social media, by phone, and by email asking about the status of your memberships and our expected reopen date,” a letter written by chief executive officer Patrick Walsh and dated March 25 read. “Rest assured, once we’re up and functionally running our clubs we will handle all of your concerns, including credits to your memberships and personal training sessions.”
Members say the company continued billing them on April 1, despite knowing that its doors would be closed at least through April.
Mark Zurlo, a marketing professional who lives in Watertown and has been a BSC member for three years, said he pays $85 per month to use the facilities at the South Station location.
“I just saw the charge on my credit card and I was like, ‘that’s weird, what’s going on there?’” Zurlo said. “They sent an email saying we’ll resolve this when we’re back up and running and issue credits. There was no guidance on how to cancel.”
Zurlo also belongs to Central Rock Gym in Watertown, which has communicated more effectively with its members, asking them to consider keeping their membership to help the employees, but while making cancelation easy on their website.
He’s kept his membership to CRG, but isn’t happy with what’s happening at BSC.
“I hear BSC laid everyone off via email on like March 16, which was basically when they got the shutdown order and immediately laid off the entire staff,” he said. “If they were still paying people, you might have more sympathy for them continuing to charge me. But knowing they’re not actually paying anyone and just collecting this money is frustrating.”
Massachusetts attorney general Maura Healey has been involved. She said via her Twitter account that BSC “hasn’t been fair to its members about their right to cancel their membership and continued to charge members who tried to cancel. Make no mistake—this is illegal. We have sent a demand letter to BSC to formally request they fix this ASAP.”
Across the country, Town Sports has over 600,000 members and Kasten said he’s heard from many of them in the Greater Boston Area, where there are 15 Boston Sports Clubs locations.
“We are flooded,” he said. “The number of people who have reached out to us since we’ve heard about this lawsuit — just about everyone has a terrible story.”
There’s also a lawsuit against Town Sports in New York State for charging members of its affiliate New York Sports Clubs.